Mother Carey's Chickens

hey flitted along like a flock of swallows, hopping and skipping from wave to wave, lif

ter Babies" on the sitting-room table. "No more jus

r in the air. The cab stood in front of Captain Carey's house, with a trunk beside the

the front stairway fo

his mother's small ba

lla; while little Peter

box of sandwiches

he stairs with her quick, firm tread, her flock following her, she looked the ideal mother. Her fine height, her splendid carriage, her deep chest, her

room for five minutes. I have said my good-byes and kissed you all a

how can we let you

hat does it matter about us when mother h

ut these low fevers sometimes last a good while and are very weakening, so I may not be able to bring father back for tw

ngle day,

le thing th

y morning," they p

lan-did you write down his address, 11 Broad Street, New York? Do

te-book filled with me

culty send for Cousin A

l make me toe the mark, I can tell

bug-a-boo, Cousin Ann i

nc

e Nancy no trouble?" said his mother, l

s curly mop of hair away from his forehead, lift his eyes, part his lips, showing a row of tiny white teeth; then a dimple would appear in each cheek and a seraphic expression (wholly at variance with the facts) would overspread the baby face, whereupon the beholder-Mother Carey, his sisters, the cook or the chambermaid, e

ill be in school from nine to two, so that the time won't go heavily. For the rest I make Nancy res

bert gave Nancy a sly wink to recall a little matter of famil

s parted for a quick retort, and n

quietly. "We'll never

ny of us be? We'll alwa

t time, and next time a

I can trust

her mother's faith as a harp to the favoring wind, but she said nothing; she only glowed

ore kiss all around.

here may be gales while

f the billows as merry

littlest Peter-bird, ho

two teenty, weenty corners of sandwiches and one little new-moon bite o

and whenever they could and jumping up and down between whiles to keep warm. Gilbert closed the door of the carriage, and it turned to go down the stre

athleen, "her bonnet is just the co

and emotion. "There never was, and there never will be! We can try and try, Kathleen, and we